


climb on board, we'll go slow

by atlantisairlock



Category: This Way Up (TV)
Genre: Being Walked In On, Established Relationship, F/F, Future Fic, Romantic Fluff, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:48:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27604462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/atlantisairlock
Summary: Charlotte and Shona have a routine. Aine accidentally disrupts it one day.AKA; Aine walks in on Charlotte and Shona having sex. Fic still manages to be more sappy and romantic than funny.
Relationships: Charlotte/Shona (This Way Up)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	climb on board, we'll go slow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunatic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunatic/gifts), [elizabthboland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabthboland/gifts).



> entirely user elizabthboland's fault! 
> 
> title from 'pillowtalk' by zayn.

Shona likes routines. She likes being able to wake up knowing exactly what she needs to do and where she needs to go. She likes organisation, stability, and comfort. She likes being able to count on things; it makes her feel safe and helps her breathe easier.

Shona likes the routine she’s created with Charlotte. They meet every night after work, at the front of the building, to grab dinner. They talk about anything except work over their food, then take the twenty-minute stroll by the river down to take the Tube home. Charlotte holds her hand and doesn’t let go until they reach the gantries and she needs to get her Oyster card. On Fridays, they go to Shona’s place and watch a movie and Charlotte stays over. It’s been a month and Shona feels steadied, feels happy, feels comfortable in her own skin in a way she doesn’t think she’s felt in years, maybe ever. She didn’t know love could feel like this - like coming home, like never fearing the key wouldn’t fit the lock.

Charlotte never pushes her to do more than she’s really ready for. Charlotte knows it’s the first time Shona’s ever been with a woman, that there are still things about herself and what they’re doing that she’s figuring out. She just stands by Shona’s side while she grapples with them, loves her for who she is and who she’s trying to be without demanding more. It’s been a month, and Shona hasn’t told Aine about Charlotte, and part of her feels guilty about it - hiding secrets from her sister, after Aine’d promised to be more honest - but part of her wants to keep it that way. Wants what they have between them to be hers, and only hers, to hold close and cherish. The warm weight of Charlotte in her arms, the way Charlotte sighs when Shona kisses her. Privileges to call her own. She likes that.

Six weeks into their blossoming relationship, they get back to Shona’s after a long, frustrating day at the office; Shona doesn’t bother with more than kicking her shoes off and tossing her coat over the back of a chair before dropping inelegantly down onto her couch. Charlotte follows with a tad more grace, letting Shona wrap her arms around her, their legs tangled on the couch. “What’re we watching tonight?”

“Something brainless and stupid,” Shona declares. “I’m _way_ too tired to expend brainpower on an A24 movie or something.”

Charlotte snorts, flicking through the selection on Netflix. She settles on a crude-looking comedy that has a very bad pun for a title and an incomprehensible synopsis talking about Vegas and strippers and white tigers or something like that. Shona doesn’t really care; the best part about their movie nights is pointing out inaccuracies in any portrayals of regex and forex, and laughing over terrible acting and nonsensical writing with Charlotte. They always have the most fun when they watch bad movies.

They’re forty minutes in and Shona’s made Charlotte double over in laughter doing a bad impression of the antagonist threatening to destroy the casino and level Vegas or whatever nonsense is playing out on-screen when the sex scene starts. Charlotte groans audibly as they watch the protagonist making out with his love interest and the rapid removal of clothing. “God, this is _so_ unnecessary. Such bad cinema.”

Shona nods agreement, but her gaze keeps tracking the screen; cinematically it really does serve no purpose and has evidently just been included just to show off the actors’ physiques but she has to admit it’s not badly shot. The female lead is gorgeous, all curves and dark hair down the expanse of her back - the camera captures the smooth arch of it and Shona feels her mouth go a little dry. She inhales sharply through her teeth and Charlotte gives her a curious look. “It’s a pretty stupid scene,” she says. “Pretty hot, though.”

Charlotte’s questioning expression shifts into a grin, mischievous, a bit sly, a bit amused. “Really? Is that so?” She twists so she’s propped up in a seated position, one hand resting on Shona’s thigh, leaning closer to brush her lips over Shona’s cheek, close to her ear. “You think it’s hot?”

The atmosphere in the room is shifting, tension crackling in the best way; Shona feels excitement and more than a little arousal stirring inside her. She turns her head so she can capture Charlotte’s mouth in a searing kiss, Charlotte yielding immediately. Charlotte’s hand sliding down to her knee, gently parting Shona’s legs; there isn’t much give, what with the mini she’s wearing, but the movement alone makes Shona gasp with anticipation. Charlotte laughs softly, sweetly, the sound muffled by Shona’s mouth over hers. “You look lovely in that skirt, but maybe you should take it off.”

Shona feels daring, always feels more so in Charlotte’s presence; Charlotte makes her feel safe and that ironically somehow makes her more willing to push certain boundaries. “Why don’t _you_ take it off me?”

She can see Charlotte’s pupils dilating, the raw desire in her expression that makes Shona feel wanted, that sends a thrill up her spine. “With pleasure,” Charlotte murmurs, deftly finding the zipper and undoing it, helping Shona get the skirt off and tossing it carelessly on the coffee table. Her hand slides between Shona’s thighs, past the waistband of her underwear, finding her wet - always, for Charlotte, easy as anything. A breathless moan passes Shona’s lips when Charlotte circles her clit, slow, gentle touches, _teasing_ \- Charlotte keeps kissing her, intense, hungry. Shona reciprocates as she arches her hips, desperate for contact, for more - Charlotte’s fingers inside her, touching her exactly how she knows Shona needs; nobody’s ever fucked her like Charlotte does and she never wants anyone else to.

“Say please,” Charlotte whispers, that dark, sultry tone creeping into her voice, the one that makes Shona’s head spin. She’s always hated being ordered around in bed, always hated when her ex-boyfriends told her what to do, told her to beg for it, but with Charlotte it’s different - with Charlotte it still feels like give and take, like she doesn’t love the power so much as she loves the pleasure she can give Shona with it. “Please,” says Shona, just once, and Charlotte slides inside her, curls her fingers just right - it feels molten, deep in her core, so, so good, legs spread for Charlotte, arms around her neck, Charlotte bringing her closer and closer to a perfect head-rush of climax -

With a shuddering _WHAM_ Shona’s front door flies open; she can hear the hinges squeak in complaint above the noise from the television. “SHONA! Do you still have my mini? Where is it, I have a date with Richard tonight - “

Charlotte screams. Shona screams. Aine - because _of course_ it’s Aine invading Shona’s living room while Shona’s girlfriend is fingering her on her couch - does not scream, she just stops dead five steps from the front door, eyebrows practically at her hairline as she watches Charlotte basically fling herself away from Shona; Shona scrambles to snatch at her skirt and cover herself up and quite nearly falls off the couch. There’s a second of silence that seems to last decades, both of them staring speechless at Aine, who just purses her lips. “Oh. So you _do_ still have my mini.”

Shona glances down at the skirt she’s holding over her lap and realises it is the mini in question; the mini that Charlotte just took off her. Aforementioned girlfriend is huddling on the couch trying to avoid Aine’s gaze. Shona thinks she might actually be living through the worst moment in her life right now. Possibly including that night she found Aine crammed full of pills on the bathroom floor; at least when that happened there wasn’t a sex scene playing out in HD on a television behind her. “Oh my _GOD,_ Aine,” she starts, for lack of a better response. “Learn to KNOCK! Jesus!” She’s torn between throwing something at her sister and burying her head under the couch cushions and never coming back up. “I’ll return your mini tomorrow! Go away!” And then, because the thought suddenly occurs to her - “And - hang on, what do you mean you have a DATE with Richard tonight? With _Richard?”_

Aine rolls her eyes; Shona can see her lips beginning to twitch into a gleeful smirk that absolutely means Shona’s going to get teased about this tomorrow, and probably for the rest of her life. “It’s going to be a very nice date. We’re taking Etienne out to this disgustingly expensive French restaurant and Richard’s going to pay. I have to meet them in thirty minutes; if you’re not going to give me my mini back, can I borrow that dress of yours? The one you wore to Ella’s wedding, the green one.”

Shona grinds her teeth; Charlotte touches her elbow and draws her gaze. “Should I go?” She says under her breath, biting her lip. Shona shakes her head fiercely. “Just give me a minute, I’ll be right back,” she replies, struggling to pull her skirt back on before fleeing into her bedroom to find the green dress Aine wants. She all but shoves it into Aine’s arms when she returns, hanger and all. “There, I’ll bring your mini over tomorrow. Have fun. But not too much fun. Use protection. Have a nice dinner. _Please_ go away.”

Aine grins back, eyes sparkling, looking far too much like the cat who ate the canary for Shona’s liking. “Will do,” she says jauntily. “Bye, Sho. Bye, Charlotte. Have a _lovely_ evening!” She bounds out of the front door with a final wink at Shona, waggling her eyebrows. “Sho, make sure you wash my mini before giving it back.”

 _“Bye,_ Aine,” Shona says, as firmly as she can despite the heat in her cheeks. She shuts the door hard and locks it behind her, dropping the key on the side table and shambling her way back to the couch. She collapses into it, hands over her face. “I’m changing the locks first thing tomorrow.” She groans and turns to Charlotte, resting her forehead on Charlotte’s shoulder so she doesn’t have to look her in the face. “Charlotte, I’m _so_ sorry. I seriously don’t even know - I could strangle Aine, I swear.”

She expects Charlotte to say it’s fine, but to still excuse herself for the night, a break in their routine after the disruption, leaving Shona alone. She doesn’t expect gentle laughter, tinged with a note of relief. Charlotte strokes her hair slowly, soothingly. “It’s okay,” she says. “I’m just… really glad she wasn’t angry. That we’re together.” Shona hears her inhale a little sharply. “I know how important Aine is to you, and after what happened - with Freddie… I never meant to break her trust, or yours. I know she was angry with me and she had every right to be. I’m glad she’s not angry with you.”

Shona looks back up, looks right at Charlotte - her expression open and genuine and vulnerable, eyes wide, dark and deep, deep enough for Shona to lose herself in. Her breath is caught in her lungs, heart stopping in her chest, so utterly overwhelmed by Charlotte’s honesty, her capacity for kindness and patience and understanding. It hits her then, that Charlotte _loves_ her - she knew that already, knew that the moment Charlotte first kissed her in the event hall and turned her life upside down, stole her heart and never gave it back. But for the first time Shona sees the depth of it, all-encompassing - the thing setting Charlotte apart from everyone else Shona’s ever thought she could love. Charlotte loves her and loves what Shona loves because that’s as much as part of her as her own soul. Charlotte wants Shona exactly as she is. Flaws, baggage and all. She doesn’t want anything more from Shona than to be loved back, exactly as she is, an equal exchange. One Shona knows she can agree to. More binding than any contract she’s ever signed, and it’s barely been a month but Shona just _knows._ Doesn’t need vows or rings or a certificate to be sure; this is her forever. This is her happy ending.

“I love you,” she says quietly. It was always so hard saying that before, hearing it from ex-boyfriends’ lips and feeling like a response was expected and having it be dragged reluctantly from her dry mouth and shaking hands. She wonders now how she never realised it was because she didn’t mean it, didn’t know how easy it would be with the right person. Charlotte gently squeezes her elbow in response, and Shona watches her lips curve up into a hesitant, lovely smile. “Me too. More than you know.”

Shona smiles back; they sit like that for a minute, holding hands, the terrible movie still playing in the background. It feels perfect. She thinks she could sit like that forever - although, of course, Charlotte has much better ideas, eventually leaning in for a lingering kiss. “Well. Do you want to continue where we left off?”

Shona laughs and deepens the kiss for a few wonderful seconds, feeling familiar heat pooling in her belly again. “You know where my bedroom is.”

“I do indeed,” Charlotte grins, pulling Shona to her feet and leading her down the hallway. Her hand is warm in Shona’s; it feels right, and Shona knows - like she knows the sun rises in the east, like she knows the earth orbits the sun, like she knows she loves Aine like her own life, like she knows Charlotte loves her; Shona knows she’s home.


End file.
